Sans regrets, sans mélo'

Happy National Bandoneón Day! [If you happen to be Argentinian...]

Forgive the esoteric reference, dear reader - bandoneón is merely the local version of what we know as an accordion. Not normally an instrument of interest, given its corny association with buskers, fiddle bands and gypsies, nevertheless it has been a contributory factor to quite a few choons of which we are very fond.

Like these:

Grace Jones - I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)

Edward Maya feat Vika Jigulina - Stereo Love (Molella Radio Edit)

Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere

...and - I really cannot believe I have only ever featured this all-time house fave here at Dolores Delargo Towers once!

Lamur feat. In-Grid - Tu es foutu

[Every time we have a house party, this one of the mainstays on the playlist - as our whole gang does (or attempts to) do all the dance moves along with those lovely Pierre et Gilles models...]

Squeeze that box, folks!

A weekend recipe

The slow crawl towards the weekend begins - and for a change, the forecast is for temperatures to hit double figures by Sunday. Woo hoo - we need to get ourselves in the mood for a party!

But first, let's make the main course...

Take a little piece of this:

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

...a smattering of this...

Pink Floyd - Is There Anybody Out There?

...a pinch of this...

The Osmonds - Crazy Horses

...and a helluva lot of this...

Afrika Bambaataa - Just Get Up And Dance

...and you get this! How the hell can this choon be thirty years old?! How?!]

Bassheads - Is There Anybody Out There (1991)

Thank Disco The Bassheads It's Friday!

Have a great one, folks!

Don't touch me I'm a real live wire

Continuing our half-arsed attempt at sneaking a few "spooky" themes into this Hallowe'en week, how about this classic Talking Heads hit - played on ukuleles?

Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain - Psycho Killer

Fang-tastic!

https://www.ukuleleorchestra.com/

You'll simply never understand the true nature of sacrifice

"Come. It is time to keep your appointment with the Wicker Man."

Think of me, sweeties, as we travel cross-country 238 miles to the Wild, Wild West for the wedding of Madam Arcati's mercurial nephew today.

Plymouth is about as far as one can go in England. It's only Cornwall between there and Cape Cod.

The Talking Heads just about sum it up:

Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere

"Normal" service will be resumed at some stage on Thursday, or maybe Friday if the whole - ahem - ceremony takes longer than we expect. Or if nobody has a lighter that works...

Once in a Lifetime, indeed

David Byrne, the award-winning musician known for his eclectic collaborations and as co-founder of Talking Heads, will curate the 22nd Meltdown Festival at London's Southbank Centre this August - following in the wake of such luminaries as Jarvis Cocker, Patti Smith, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Ray Davies and Antony Hegarty.

As well as being the creative force behind Talking Heads, Mr Byrne has forged a hugely successful solo career, collaborating with a range of artists that include Brian Eno, Morcheeba, Fatboy Slim, Paul Simon, Thievery Corporation, Arcade Fire and Anna Calvi.

Of the appointment, he said:

"This is going to be exciting! I plan to invite performers I've seen - and I do get out - and others I've missed or have dreamed of seeing. It's going to be a bit of fun puzzle solving I imagine - seeing who's interested, who is available and what venues at Southbank Centre are appropriate. I really hope to find things that take this beyond sit-down concerts as well - but of course I'm speaking way too early as I'm still working on my wish list."

It is far too soon to predict who might be on the bill but, as always, we have high hopes.

And, just because... Here's my favourite Talking Heads track, for your delectation:

Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime

The Meltdown Festival is at the Southbank Centre from Monday 17th August to Friday 28th August 2015.

Shoes and frogs

Today, an oddity opens in the Dorfman Theatre (formerly known as The Cottesloe) at The National here in London.

An unlikely collaboration between two musical icons - David Byrne of Talking Heads, and dance music's own "national treasure" Fat Boy Slim - a "sequinned, disco-dancing spectacle" charting the rise and fall of shoe-lover and tyrant Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines is an odd choice of subject for a musical, one might think!

Quoted in The Guardian, Mr Byrne said:

“I knew that Imelda was given to memorable pronouncements and aphorisms and outrageous behaviour, some of it amusing and some of it horrific, but the fact that she immersed herself in the disco club world was a big selling point.

“When I heard she had a giant mirror ball in her New York townhouse and turned the roof of the palace in Manila into a dancing club, I thought ‘she really surrounded herself with this music and created her own soundtrack to her life.’ Disco was a genre that I was uncomfortable with but keen to explore, so with those factors in mind I thought, ‘let’s see if there’s a story to be told here’.”

Lyrics in the show [Here Lies Love] were often lifted directly from speeches, interviews, recordings from the time and even Marcos’s high school yearbook. One song is taken verbatim from a speech that Benigno Aquino gave about President Marcos building arts centres and not doing enough for the shanty towns in Manila, while another is based on quotes from an oral history of the People Power revolution that Byrne stumbled across.

Apparently.

It might well be a hoot! We'll see...

In tribute to this remarkably odd piece of news, here's another unlikely combination - none other than Kermit the Frog's very own tribute to Talking Heads' biggest hit Once in a Lifetime...

Kermit the Frog - Once in a Lifetime

Excellent.

David Byrne and Norman Cook's Here Lies Love is on a strictly limited run at The National Theatre from 30th September 2014 to 8th January 2015 - book tickets here

Letting the days go by

The lovely Miss Tina Weymouth, groundbreaking female bassist, songwriter and producer celebrates her 62nd birthday today!

Let's take another trip down memory lane, and listen to some of my favourite songs to which she contributed her talents over the years...

Talking Heads - Once In A Lifetime

Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood

Tom Tom Club - Genius of Love

Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere

Talk about a blast from the past.

Love them all - and adore Tina!

Tina Weymouth biography at the Talking Heads site